Oli. Read it you, firrah. [To FABIAN. Fab. [reads.] By the Lord, madam, you wrong me, and the world fhall know it: though you have put me into darkness, and given your drunken cousin rule over me, yet have I the benefit of my fenfes as well as your ladyship. I have your own letter that induced me to the femblance I put on; with the which I doubt not but to do myself much right, or you much shame. Think of me as you please. I leave my duty a little unthought of, and fpeak out of my injury. The madly-used MALVOLIO. Oli. Did he write this?

Clo. Ay, madam.

Duke. This favours not much of distraction,

Oli. See him deliver'd, Fabian; bring him hither.

[Exit FABIAN. My lord, so please you, these things further thought on, To think me as well a fifter as a wife,

One day shall crown the alliance on't, so please you,
Here at my house, and at my proper cost.

Duke. Madam, I am most apt to embrace your offer.Your master quits you; [To VIOLA.] and, for your fervice done him,

So much against the mettle of your sex,

So far beneath your soft and tender breeding,
And fince you call'd me master for so long,
Here is my hand; you fhall from this time be
Your master's mistress.

Mal.

Notorious wrong.

Oli.

Madam, you have done me wrong,

Have I, Malvolio? no.

Mal. Lady, you have.

Pray you, peruse that letter:

You must not now deny it is your hand,
Write from it, if you can, in hand, or phrase;

Or fay, 'tis not your seal, nor your invention :
You can say none of this: Well, grant it then,
And tell me, in the modefty of honour,

Why you have given me fuch clear lights of favour;
Bade me come fmiling, and cross-garter'd to you,
To put on yellow stockings, and to frown.
Upon fir Toby, and the lighter people:
And, acting this in an obedient hope,
Why have you fuffer'd me to be imprison'd,
Kept in a dark house, vifited by the priest,
And made the most notorious geck, and gull,
That e'er invention play'd on? tell me why.

Oli. Alas, Malvolio, this is not my writing,
Though, I confefs, much like the character:
But, out of question, 'tis Maria's hand.
And now I do bethink me, it was the

First told me, thou waft mad; then cam'ft in smiling,
And in fuch forms which here were prefuppos'd
Upon thee in the letter. Pr'ythee, be content :
This practice hath moft fhrewdly pafs'd upon thee;
But, when we know the grounds and authors of it,
Thou shalt be both the plaintiff and the judge
Of thine own caufe.

Fab.

Good madam, hear me speak;

And let no quarrel, nor no brawl to come,

Taint the condition of this present hour,

Which I have wonder'd at. In hope it shall not,
Molt freely I confefs, myself, and Toby,

Set

Set this device against Malvolio here,
Upon fome stubborn and uncourteous parts
We had conceiv'd against him: Maria writ
The letter, at fir Toby's great importance;
In recompence whereof, he hath married her.
How with a sportful malice it was follow'd,
May rather pluck on laughter than revenge;
If that the injuries be justly weigh'd,

That have on both fides past.

Oli. Alas, poor fool! how have they baffled thee?

Clo. Why, fome are born great, some atchieve greatness, and fome have greatness thrown upon them. I was one, fir, in this interlude; one fir Topas, fir; but that's all one: -By the Lord, fool, I am not mad ;—But do you remember? Madam, why laugh you at such a barren rascal? an you Smile not, he's gagg'd: And thus the whirligig of time brings in his revenges.

Mal. I'll be revenged on the whole pack of you. [Exit. Oli. He hath been moft notoriously abus'd.

Duke. Purfue him, and entreat him to a peace :

He hath not told us of the captain yet;

When that is known, and golden time convents,
A folemn combination fhall be made

Of our dear fouls-Mean time, sweet fifter,
We will not part from hence.- Cefario, come;
For fo you shall be, while you are a man;
But, when in other habits you are seen,
Orfino's mistress, and his fancy's queen.

:-

[Exeunt.

SONG.

Clo.

SONG.

When that I was and a little tiny boy,
With hey, bo, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,

For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came to man's eftate,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
'Gainft knave and thief men shut their gate,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came, alas! to wive,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
By fwaggering could I never thrive,
For the rain it raineth every day.

But when I came unto my bed,

With bey, bo, the wind and the rain,
With tofs-pots ftill had drunken bead,
For the rain it raineth every day.

A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that's all one, our play is done,

And we'll strive to please you every day. [Exit.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE,

A

COMEDY.

BY

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

ACCURATELY PRINTED

FROM THE TEXT OF

Mr. STEEVENS's LAST EDITION.

Drnamented with Plates.

London:

PUBLISHED BY E. HARDING, NO. 98, PALL-MALL;

J. WRIGHT, PICCADILLY; G. SAEL, STRAND;
AND VERNOR AND HOOD, POULTRY.

1799.